Transcript for President Obama Pledges Action to Prevent More Tragedies

And tonight, the conversation about assault weapons and gun violence is under way, as you know, brian. Every hour, three americans die from a gunshot wound. And consider this. Americans are 20 times more likely to be killed by a gun than citizens living in any other developed nation in this world. Last night, the president said we cannot tolerate what is happening, and today, a chorus of surprising voices joined a call for change. Here's abc's jake tapper. Reporter: Standing by the devastated families of sandy hook last night, the president pledged action to prevent more tragedies. To save future children. Because what choice do we have? Are we prepared to say such violent visited on our children year after year after year is some how the price of our freedom? Reporter: For the couple hundred people who marched from capitol hill to the local offices of the national rifle sew yags today, and for new york city michael bloomberg, standing with victims of gun violence, there is one issue to confront. Access to guns. This is just ridiculous. This is an outrage. We are killing each other. And we're the only industrialized country in the world doing it. Reporter: Proposals being pushed in congress include reinstating the ban of certain types of semia all maltic rifles which expired in 2004. And banning high capacity magazines. Even some gun stallworths, such as joe man chin, today sounded a bit more compromising. I don't know of anybody in the sporting or hunting arena that goes out with an assault rifle. Reporter: White house officials say the president does not view this tragedy only through the lens of access to guns, but also with a focus on education, mental health and a violent popular culture. While the president has occasionally talked about gub control. Weapons that were designed for soldiers don't belong on our streets. Reporter: Action is a different matter. Can you name one thing the president has done in the last four years to help remove weapons of war from our streets? You know, there's no question, jake, that the scourge of gun violence is a problem that has not sufficiently been aggre addre addressed. Reporter: Inner words, no. Many americans turn to washington in their greech for answers what they can do, what society can do to prevent feature sandy hooks. They dud not hear any answers coming from the white house.

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